WebJunction - Outreach

Re: Unconventional Partnerships

2007-08-08T16:37:57Z

This is super cool! You've combined some of my all time favorite things in the world - libraries, community, theater/film, art and food! I can't think of anything better!

I used to work on literacy programs serving at-risk youth and did some theater and cooking projects. Reading plays was a great way to hook reluctant readers - they began to feel connected to their characters and being able to practice their lines in advance made them more confident reading in front of a group. Do you ever get copies of these plays for your library?

Cooking is certainly a bit more challenging in a library but reading recipes is still reading! Do the cooks ever share their recipes? And I love that you're bring films into the mix - it sounds like you're doing a great job of celebrating the culture of your community and making the library central to that community!

Thanks for sharing these great ideas for partnerships!
Zola

Re: Unconventional Partnerships

2007-08-08T15:40:35Z

Very nice!

Re: Unconventional Partnerships

2007-08-08T14:20:33Z

I just thought I would share a few of the unconventional partnerships that Princeton Public Library has established over the years to increase our level of programming without incurring too much additional cost.

One of partnerships is with local theatres to provide previews and pre-performance lectures or "meet the cast" sessions prior to the show opening. One series is called "McCarter Live @ the Library" and we normally have anywhere from 75-100 people show up for these programs. We also do "Passage Theatre Previews". The theatre benefits with a bit of extra promotion and our patrons love having a chance to mingle with the cast and crew and to hear about the behind the scenes making of the productions.

We have also teamed with the local arts council to create an art gallery in our reference section. They change the installation every 3 months and feature the works of 2 artists per show. When the installation is complete we host an Art Talk with the artists -- the library provides food, the arts council brings wine and it is a classy night. Attendance ranges from 50 to 100.

Another unique partnership is with a local Italian restaurant that pays the public performance rights for our Italian films series and then hosts a reception at the restaurant after the films. We have a large Italian community that just loves this event.

We also collaborate with a local poetry group to do a Poet Invite every month. They select the poets and host the evening, we just provide space and PR.

There are several other partnerships, but the one thing that all of our partnerships have in common is that we get quality programming for minimal expense.

Re: Working with the Chamber of Commerce

2007-06-13T16:57:25Z

Well, no Chamber members had book suggestions. :-(

Not really surprising ... they've got businesses to run ... but a useful gambit from the POV of demonstrating responsiveness.

Anyway, the next Chamber educational opportunity will be at the library at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26. The topic will be "marketing your small business."

I've no idea how many people will be there. I do know that the speaker will be bringing his own equipment so that our IT guy doesn't have to be there that early.

Since I live some distance away I figure I'll leave home about 6 that morning. Arghh!

Re: Working with the Chamber of Commerce

2007-02-09T16:35:42Z

For instance:

I'm now on the local Chamber's "education committee." The library and the Chamber have had a relationship since long before I came as the new director three years ago ... but now I've a more formal role.

I should note that while I would not mind being a Chamber director I do not want to be Chamber president. There are two reasons. First, "been there, done that, got the T-shirt" by being a Chamber president in another community nearly 20 years previous. Second, electing a "government employee" as a Chamber president is (or should be) an act of desparation -- what's best for the library in terms of "property tax income" may not be something the Chamber should approve. For instance, a local Chamber having many small retail members might protest a new WalMart while a library director sensing NEW TAX DOLLARS might want it.

It's sorta like blood in the water for us budget-driven types.

Anyway, this new education committee affords some useful cooperation. It gives the library an new opportunity to make its meeting rooms available (at 8 in the morning!) for "business education", it gives us an opportunity to develop programming (giving the Chamber a chance to "sell itself" to the public at least once a year), and it gives the library an additional opportunity to build a partnership with the Chamber. This latter will be extremely important when the library must, in 6 or 7 years, go to the voters for a building expansion referendum.

It does not hurt that the current head of the county's Republic Party is also on this committee. I figure that if the library can at least neutralize opposition by the "conservative side of the political equation" it will have a better chance at the polls.

Finally ... here's one gambit: the Chamber sent an e-mail to its membership asking for business book title suggestions. The library, likely enough, already owns them ... but we likely don't focus enough on the needs of small businesses (as opposed to investors) and may well be surprised. In any case, spending a couple hundred dollars a year in Chamber membership requested business books may well be an essential investment ... it helps us demonstrate an ROI that the business community can understand.

Working with the Chamber of Commerce

2007-02-09T16:10:46Z

This topic is for talking about problems/issues/opportunities for working with local Chambers of Commerce.

Re: Visibility in the Community

2006-09-21T16:07:54Z

I think that's an awesome idea! Do you have a table at all - or do you set up meetings with parents? How do you go about it? I was thinking about Lucy from Peanuts - Information Questions answered for 5¢!!

Re: Visibility in the Community

2006-09-21T14:09:39Z

Some of the ways that we try to stay visible is by attending the open house at the local elementary school and again in the spring to promote the summer reading program, marching in the Town parade (with costumes and candy), and visiting the senior citizen apartments every other week with book deliveries.

RE: Rural Workshop - Barriers to Sustainability

2006-06-09T17:03:18Z

That's good to hear that filtering has not been a significant barrier. In a funny, turned-around way, it may lead to more interactions with library staff, which is always a good thing, imo. You get the opportunity to explain something about filters and let the patron know that you are there to help.

Interesting point about the library being definitely recreational. I think there are still some holdouts in the profession who resist that label, not unlike those who thought that novels were not appropriate fare for patrons back in the early 1900's. Educating the public is currently a huge challenge for libraries of all sizes. Please let us know what works for you.

Re: RE: RE: RE: How do we address TIME?: RE: Rural Workshop - Barriers to S

2006-04-22T16:58:33Z

I work as the director of a library with a part-time paid employee. Filtering has only been
a problem for the patrons. Some feel that they should not have to go through us to get to where they want to go, some don't mind the filters, and the last group are embarrassed
that a filter popped-up, they usually end up, " saying- I'm not going anyplace bad!!!"
Then you have to explain to them, it could just be a pop-up that's causing the problem.

My co-worker's view like mine is, it is no different than logging them on to the computer to
begin with to a certain degree. We have a couple of standard questions that we ask, but
that is no big deal.

Filtering on the whole is not a barrier for us.

Our biggest barrier is pretty much like everyone else- getting the community educated
about libraries,who should help fund us, who we are, what we do, how we function, and in our county the biggest barrier is that we have some people who don't understand that we are not only educational butwe are also most definitely RECREATIONAL.

Re: Visibility in the Community

2006-04-20T08:50:31Z

I think that is absolutely right-on. Even in a town as big as Atlanta, I feel even by reading the paper and attending local events, you get an idea for what the public expects from the services they pay for...and hopefully gives you ideas and prompts the library staff to be forward-thinking and maybe be one-step ahead of the public!

Re: Visibility in the Community

2006-04-20T00:59:49Z

I've always felt that being involved in the community where you work in the library helps
you to get to know your job better. The community's needs are discussed in the various
organizations and activities the are presented and that tells or can guide the library into
directing their five-year plans. It lets us see the position that community is wanting to
go and lets us focus on ways to have the library do programing, plan events, possible
fund-raisers all geared toward the direction that the community wants to grow.
It even gives us ideas on what books might be useful to grow towards that end and what
internet resources/ data bases might gives us the clues to how to help achieve those ends.

Re: Unconventional Partnerships

2006-02-22T21:41:59Z

Hi,

I know a former colleague of mine used to work with the National Park Service so perhaps she'll have some feedback on this topic...

Max

Re: Unconventional Partnerships

2006-02-22T20:38:19Z

I received my paper copy of "Crossroads" and was very pleased to see information on community partnerships. I have being doing research on the topic and I am coauthoring a book on the topic. A year ago I presented a session at a national conference on community partnerships between libraries and park districts and discovered there were so many innovative ideas that librarians either wanted to try or had successfully tried.

If anyone has any ideas, specifically any programs or events they have done with a park district, I would love to hear about them. I am always looking for examples of great programs to include in my book!

readingevents04@aol.com

Re: A Seat at the Community Table: Day TWO

2006-02-16T19:37:20Z

(Originally Posted by Librarybob)
Librarybob: Yesterday was a good start.

We ... or I should say one of our Board members who was used to running large church functions ... called up the marketing people at Hasbro. They'd done many Monopoly tournaments, but never a CLUE tournament.

This meant guiding the idea through the marketing maze at Hasbro. They've now assigned someone to it (as I understand) so the hard work has been done. It was, at our end, a simple multi-tier elimination event. People bought seats to play (a $5 or so entrance fee, lowered for "teams" buying several seats) and sponsors bought "rooms" and "characters."

We rented a local mansion ... we sold lunch (when there were lots of people about) and had a silent auction immediately before the final game.

The winner (and one person who bought the same honor in the silent auction) had a reference book on board games "plated" with a special CLUE bookplate we made up.

This is a "picturesque" thing, perfect for getting newspaper photographers to cover.

Blq3: I just love this idea! CLUE is one of my all-time favorite games. I'd pay more than $5 to get a chance to play it in a real mansion.

I know you got some community members, like the county board president and a state representative, to dress up and play the characters --how fun! Did you have all the appropriate props --candlestick, wrench, etc.? Did participants get to move the (real live) characters around the 'board'? I would love to see some photos if you feel like posting them here.

I can see a huge benefit in this unorthodox fund-raiser for generating community spirit with the library at the heart of it. The county and state officials hopefully had fun and went away with good feelings about the library in their heads. The money raised is certainly a tangible outcome. It all sounds great!

Librarybob: Oh, yes ... we had the props. The subsequent library newsletter had a photo of "Mrs.White killing Mr. Body with a Revolver."

Unconventional Partnerships

2006-01-26T00:17:09Z

Well, I didn't really think the well had dried up as far as partnering ideas. I have at least one community partnership idea up my sleeve that I haven't shared yet. It's definitely on the unconventional side of things.

A national bicycling organization called Adventure Cycling is partnering with the U of Pittsburgh's Center for Minority Health to develop a cross-country bike route that follows the fabled Underground Railroad traveled by thousands of African Americans escaping from slavery. This project is in the early planning stages at this point (route maps wont be published until spring 2007), but the sponsoring organizations are putting the plan together and they intend to fully integrate libraries along the route by:

--Putting library locations on the route maps
--Encouraging cyclists to use the PACs at libraries to journal their experience and email friends and supporters
--Encouraging libraries everywhere to develop programming related to the event--great way for public libraries to have an impact at the community level with a program so large in scope
--WebJunction is negotiating with the organizers to encourage library staff to use our message boards to discuss ways of getting involved and experiences with the cyclists on the route.

Pretty exciting, I think. If you want to learn more, check out the website:
http://www.adv-cycling.org/routes/undergroundrailroad.cfm

Reciprocation from the Community

2006-01-26T18:28:31Z

I was out of the library yesterday so missed the discussion. Just read through the responses as well as those posted today. So many good ideas but so many we are doing or are hoping to do. We're a small of library in a community of 5500. It seems that most of the time the library is the one reaching out. How many of you have found that your efforts resulted in the community and its agencies realizing the benefits of partnering with the library and have started including the library at the table? I'd like to hear some positive results that have come about because of the library's efforts, and how long did it take before you started seeing two-way outcomes.

How Outreach Brings in Patrons: Success is Contagious!

2006-01-26T17:28:37Z

Hello on the third and last day of our discussion. It has been an exciting and informative process. I look forward to today when we will continue to explore the need for engaging in activities that take the library beyond traditional boundaries.

In my community of Mathews with a population of 9,300, we have added more than three thousand names to our patron rolls over the last three years. This occurred as a result of outreach and involvement. For instance, we are represented on local arts center committees by our youth services leader. This has enabled us to greatly expand our summer youth program by partnering with artists to include arts and crafts and integrating them with reading. Each week during July we devote Tuesdays and Wednesdays to reading and Thursdays to interpreting the theme of the week. Fridays are field trips. The arts center provides volunteer personnel and guest artists on Wednesday. It is a highly enriched program as a result of our having a place in the decision process at the arts center.

Librarians have the potential for being community leaders, especially in rural communities. The opportunities are limitless, but to be successful, we have found they need to be grounded in common interests.

Re: Other Outreach Possibilities

2006-02-16T18:55:14Z

(Originally posted by Jcashin)
Jcashin: In the area of SE Michigan many directors are members of Rotary or other Civic Clubs. I have never had the time or inclination to JOIN!
However participating in RIF distributions, attending other events in the city and working with the Historical Museum help to increase our visibility. We participate in a Safety Day and a Kids Expo with a booth and hand out gioodies and related library items. One librarian is in the quilters guild, another is on the Beautification Commission, another is part of the historical society publications committee.
We don't have a lot of staff turn around and we are all recognized out in the community as I Know You--You work at the Library. In a small community giving great service to all is important as you never know who is related to the mayor, council, school board etc.
Knowing the players by name is invaluable. Treating their kids right is a must.
Being out in the city gives many people the feeling that I have a "personal' librarian who will answer my question with a call back, give a quick book talk, or even return this book!
Don't overlook your visibility!

(Originally posted by Conjaw)
Conjaw: Hi again,

In many urban and proably rural communities the church still holds a pretty central place in the lives of many of the community members. Many churches attempt to run after school programs, tutoring programs and the like...I suspect that they might welcome a field trip to their local library to augment the study skills of their students.

You can request that information about programming at your library be placed in the church bulletin community activities section.

The library can also out reach to daycare home providers by planning activities especially geared toward these providers and youngsters. There are also agency that work closley with care givers and the library could place itself on thgeir agendas.
Senior citizens centers and nursing home may provide new venues for library services...
Just thought I would add this comment.

bibliographically yours,

Conja Wright

Librarians as Board Members

2006-01-25T19:34:33Z

Wow Bob, you certainly gave us some food for thought. Thanks for sharing in such detail what you and your staff are doing.

I would like to add that in our experience in Princeton partnering with the local arts council has been a wonderful and worthwhile endeavor on many occasions. Arts Councils and Libraries are a natural fit for community partnering.

We have tried to extend the library's reach by having librarians serve on local boards -- most notably, the Princeton Adult School and the board of the Latin American Task Force. Having librarians as board members for other local organizations gives us visibility, credibility and a voice.